Oh my God, man, how
can you joke?! Remember the
Y2K carnage?!
Posted on 10/27/2005 1:05:01 PM PDT by emiller
ZURICH (Reuters) - Drug maker Roche halted supplies of its antiviral drug to the United States to head off hoarding by consumers fearing bird flu, as another firm, and Vietnam, said they were preparing to manufacture their own treatments.
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Tests on the latest suspected human cases of the disease produced negative results on Thursday, but fear remained high that bird flu was spreading around the world among wild birds and poultry and threatened to produce a human pandemic.
Roche Holding AG said it had halted deliveries of Tamiflu to the United States and Canada until the start of the flu season. Media coverage of the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu had driven sales higher, the company said.
"This resulted in increased demand for Tamiflu in part from individuals who are doing private stockpiling and at the moment there is no influenza circulating and the threat of a pandemic has not (materialized)," a spokeswoman said.
"Our priority is to ensure that Tamiflu is available for seasonal use and to fulfil government orders," she added.
British-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Europe's biggest drug maker, said on Thursday it was building capacity and converting more factories to make a pandemic flu vaccine, as it develops a prototype shot to counter the H5N1 bird flu virus.
A key challenge in developing a vaccine is how to make the most shots from a minimum amount of active ingredient.
Glaxo Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Garnier said his firm had found a way of using an adjuvant, or additive, to greatly expand the amount of vaccine from a given batch of antigen.
"We've been at it for several years now and this gives us good hope for the last bit that remains to be done to come up with a 'shotgun' vaccine on H5N1," he said.
Roche is the only manufacturer of Tamiflu, considered the first line of defense against the H5N1 avian flu virus that some fear could spark an outbreak among humans if it mutates to allow human-to-human transmission. The drug can reduce the severity of influenza and may slow the spread of a pandemic.
Under pressure from generic drug companies, developing nations and the United States, Roche agreed this month to discuss granting licenses to others to make versions of Tamiflu.
An EU-backed consortium said it had developed the first human vaccine for a strain of bird flu that may be able to jump from poultry to humans. The H7N1 strain is highly pathogenic but the risk of it emerging as a pandemic strain is lower than H5N1.
TESTS NEGATIVE
Experts say the feared mutation of the virus is most likely to take place in Southeast Asia, where millions of birds have been slaughtered in an attempt to limit its spread.
Cao Minh Quang, head of Vietnam's Pharmaceutical Control Department, said it had asked Roche to franchise Tamiflu production to Vietnam, where bird flu has killed 41 people.
"But in the situation of a pandemic, we will start the production without permission," Quang said.
He said the World Health Organization forecast 10 percent of Vietnam's 82 million people could be infected in a pandemic.
France said tests on one of three tourists suspected of catching H5N1 in a Thai bird park showed he was not infected.
China said a girl in an area hit by an outbreak among birds did not die of bird flu as feared, but OF pneumonia.
H5N1 has killed more than 60 people in four countries in Asia and has been found among birds in Croatia, Romania, Turkey and Russia, but no human cases have been reported in Europe.
There is no evidence yet that the disease can be transmitted easily among humans, but experts fear it is only a matter of time. China, with its huge numbers of both humans and poultry, often living close together, is seen as a major risk zone.
MONITORING BORDERS
Authorities around the world are nervously monitoring borders, testing arriving wild birds and clamping down on the import and movement of birds and poultry.
South Pacific leaders ended a two-day summit in Port Moresby on Thursday with a plan to pool resources to combat bird flu.
WHO's representative in Sri Lanka said birds migrating from Russia might infect South Asia. "The virus seems to be becoming increasingly aggressive and pathogenic," said Agostino Borra. "More types of wild and domestic birds are becoming infected."
The Asian Development Bank says even a mild pandemic could cost Asia up to $110 billion, aside from the cost in lives.
French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand warned against "dramatization" of the threat. "What we are talking about today in Europe, is about the risk of a disease, of a virus that affects animals," he said.
I have also heard that "relenza" is good stuff...
Buy hogs. And hog companies.
Yup.
there is no evidence that Tamiflu would be of any use against a human form of H51.
ahh the glorious central planners, stupid peasants we will tell you what you need!
So, I had a sore throat on Tuesday, the sniffles, and now I have a crappy cough. I suppose it's the Bird Flu, for sure! I'd better run right down to the ER and get my Tamiflu, I suppose.
Oh...wait...it's just a cold. I'll feel better in a day or two. Never mind.
Why have you hoarded it? Unless you plan on sleeping with your chickens and ducks underneath your hut or slaughter birds yourself, there is no real risk from the avian flu. Did you realize there is a fairly short shelf-life for the product? Did you also know that it has not preventative properties? Tamiflu is only of benefit once you have the influenza infection or are exposed while you are on it. It works by halting cell lysis and release of new viral particles long enough for your immune system to work out its response. If you take it too soon, it will not help.
"there is no evidence that Tamiflu would be of any use against a human form of H51."
Yes there is. It has been effective against most (but not all) forms of the bird form of H51. Any human form of H51 will more likely than not come from the majority of strains of H51 that have been effectively treated by Tamiflu. And yes, there's a chance the mutation will cause Tamiflu to lose effectiveness, but there's also a very good chance that it won't.
Do you think all these nations all over the world are frantically stocking up on Tamiflu because they know it won't work?
Relenza is good, but in even shorter supply. About 1/10 the production of Tamiflu.
You are blatantly, conspicuously, totally WRONG.
Most tamiflu capsules being purchased now have expirations dates of 2009-2010.
Prophylactic administration of Tamiflu is an approved use. In practice, few do this.
Sometime consider educating yourself before you post.
Now...don't confuse folks with facts. [grin] You just can't get enough of that Tamiflu. That's why Roche is halting deliveries to the US. We're pretty wierd about hoarding stuff.
I'm sure doctors are getting all sorts of Tamiflu requests from their more hypochondriacal patients. Wierd.
Oh my God, man, how
can you joke?! Remember the
Y2K carnage?!
It does appear that current H5N1 strains might require a higher/longer dose. Worth keeping in mind if anyone is planning a purchase (better be a real quick purchase).
Run that first sentence by me again.
An Article in this months Scientific American backs up Tamiflus effectiveness, but it takes high dosages...still works though.
There is no human form of H5N1. The one out there you have to sleep with a duck to get.
I dunno, there seems to be a possible Tragedy of the Commons angle to all this. On the one hand free markets and self-reliance are usually the best solution, but on the other, were antibiotics not prescription-controlled the overuse of them and rise of resistant mutations would be greatly increased. That example isn't exactly parallel because it involves doctors, not gov't, as the gatekeeper, but is food for thought.
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